Ryan
Court Jester
Much easier to write a trip report as we go along, so I'll get started.
Amy's grandmother ended up in the hospital on Tuesday, she left right away to get down there, leaving the Boy and I to take the train down and meet them after work/school wrapped up for the week. Lucky to be able to snag a roomette on 19 on such short notice. If Amy needs to stay longer, we also have reservations for a Bedroom on Sunday evening's 20, but I'd much prefer that we all drive back together (I'd personally rather take the train, but I don't want to stick Amy with the hellish drive both ways.
The Boy gets home from school just before 3, so I met him at home then, finished gathering up a few things and we headed over to Odenton to catch a MARC train to WAS. Found a suitable place to park, got our tickets and were on the platform waiting with plenty of time to spare. The 4:07 would get us to DC in plenty of time to check out Amtrak's pop-up holiday store (or so I thought). The train was running about 10 minutes late, making things in DC just a little bit tighter than I'd like, but we made it down to Gate H to check out what they had to offer. Matt had a bunch of watches that were missing batteries that he was selling for a steal. I got myself a nice watch (something I've been wanting for a while), and a sweet poster of an AEM-7, ACS-64 and HHP-8 photo op in the yard here before the last Hippo was hauled north. I was also tempted by a couple HO scale locomotives, and a K3LA that came off a switcher in the Grove. No idea how that ended up in WAS for sale, but there it was. Only the fact that it wouldn't really fit in my roomette saved me from buying it. h34r:
After making our purchases, we made our way to the Club Acela and had a snack and soda before being called for early boarding. We made our way down to the train after the motor had been taken off, but before the diesel power was hooked up. We got settled into the room, and were soon on our way. Rob, our SCA stopped by just as we got underway, and made sure that we were all set and familiar with the room. He told us that the dining car had a large group of reservations starting at 7:00, so we could head to the diner right away to get in front of them, or wait until the next slot at 8:30. being hungry, we beat feet for the diner and had a delicious meal - steak for me, and tilapia for the Boy. After having the table (and in fact the whole diner!) to ourselves for about 5 minutes, we were joined by a couple, and then the diner slowly filled up as we ate. The Boy claimed to be too full for dessert, but Michelle, the LSA convinced him that he could fit some in, which he promptly devoured). I had some kind of chocolate truffle cup, which was somewhat delicious. Bryant was the other server and he took good care of us.
Now we're settled into the room, listening to the reassuring call of the engineer calling clear signals and the conductor rogering up for them. Internet working reasonably well from my iPhone, and all is well for now. Just left Culpepper about 15 minutes behind, which is just fine by me. There was some massive police activity on the road alongside us just before Culpepper, other than that it's been cold dark and quiet outside.
Think it's about time to have the room made up and start thinking about some sleep in a bit.
Amy's grandmother ended up in the hospital on Tuesday, she left right away to get down there, leaving the Boy and I to take the train down and meet them after work/school wrapped up for the week. Lucky to be able to snag a roomette on 19 on such short notice. If Amy needs to stay longer, we also have reservations for a Bedroom on Sunday evening's 20, but I'd much prefer that we all drive back together (I'd personally rather take the train, but I don't want to stick Amy with the hellish drive both ways.
The Boy gets home from school just before 3, so I met him at home then, finished gathering up a few things and we headed over to Odenton to catch a MARC train to WAS. Found a suitable place to park, got our tickets and were on the platform waiting with plenty of time to spare. The 4:07 would get us to DC in plenty of time to check out Amtrak's pop-up holiday store (or so I thought). The train was running about 10 minutes late, making things in DC just a little bit tighter than I'd like, but we made it down to Gate H to check out what they had to offer. Matt had a bunch of watches that were missing batteries that he was selling for a steal. I got myself a nice watch (something I've been wanting for a while), and a sweet poster of an AEM-7, ACS-64 and HHP-8 photo op in the yard here before the last Hippo was hauled north. I was also tempted by a couple HO scale locomotives, and a K3LA that came off a switcher in the Grove. No idea how that ended up in WAS for sale, but there it was. Only the fact that it wouldn't really fit in my roomette saved me from buying it. h34r:
After making our purchases, we made our way to the Club Acela and had a snack and soda before being called for early boarding. We made our way down to the train after the motor had been taken off, but before the diesel power was hooked up. We got settled into the room, and were soon on our way. Rob, our SCA stopped by just as we got underway, and made sure that we were all set and familiar with the room. He told us that the dining car had a large group of reservations starting at 7:00, so we could head to the diner right away to get in front of them, or wait until the next slot at 8:30. being hungry, we beat feet for the diner and had a delicious meal - steak for me, and tilapia for the Boy. After having the table (and in fact the whole diner!) to ourselves for about 5 minutes, we were joined by a couple, and then the diner slowly filled up as we ate. The Boy claimed to be too full for dessert, but Michelle, the LSA convinced him that he could fit some in, which he promptly devoured). I had some kind of chocolate truffle cup, which was somewhat delicious. Bryant was the other server and he took good care of us.
Now we're settled into the room, listening to the reassuring call of the engineer calling clear signals and the conductor rogering up for them. Internet working reasonably well from my iPhone, and all is well for now. Just left Culpepper about 15 minutes behind, which is just fine by me. There was some massive police activity on the road alongside us just before Culpepper, other than that it's been cold dark and quiet outside.
Think it's about time to have the room made up and start thinking about some sleep in a bit.